Student
Jia Cai (Class of 2023)
Jia Cai (Class of 2023)
- Background
- My undergrad major was International Business; my professional background is marketing and nonprofit management.
- Why did you decide to apply to KC-CDO?
- In addition to both universities' prestigiousness, the program design meets my requirements to study hospitality with hands-on experience and data analytics, as it provides a number of optional courses. You get to do it in your own way.
- What career goals will KC-CDO help you achieve?
- My long-term career goal is to support female entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry and with KC-CDO I am able to grow my network with some leaders in the industry as well as the leaders-to-be.
- Which class did you enjoy the most at both Kyoto and Cornell?
- I enjoyed Data Driven Marketing at Cornell and Innovative Hospitality Management at Kyoto the most.
- How were the classmates at both university?
- Most of the classmates are intelligent, hard-working and team players.
- Did you have chance to internship during the program?
- In the summer after Cornell's graduation, I did a two-month internship at Horwath HTL Japan, supporting hotel market research. During the two months, I was involved in projects such as luxury hotel openings, hotel database management, and annual report compilation. It was a great opportunity to apply the hospitality knowledge I learned and to understand what I should work on to become a hospitality consultant.
- What did you do on your days off?
- I love exploring local bakeries and Cafés!
- Did you have second thoughts about starting your study during the pandemic? If so, what determined to start now?
- I was convinced that the world would return to normal by the time we graduate, and it did!
- What have you most enjoyed about being a KC-CDO student?
- Meeting the people and making life-long friends.
- How did you connect with people and make new friends?
- Sign up for events and reach out for team projects! That's the fastest way to know new people and build connections.
- Did you join any extra-curricular events or clubs at both universities? If yes, which ones?
- At Kyoto I followed the 京都市国際交流協会 (Kyoto City International Foundation) and joined their Ikebana class for 7 weeks, it was so much fun!
- Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for future/current KC-CDO students?
- Believe in your own choice
